When you think of some of the largest and most successful multiplayer games in the world, what do you think of? Some would assume the usual heavy hitters such as Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, and Fortnite. What some may not know is that Crossfire is one of the most successful franchises on that list, with over 670 million registered users to date.

Smilegate Entertainment struck gold with its original release of Crossfire back in 2007. The game gathered huge popularity in Asia and it is seeking to duplicate that success with Western players. Even with the exclusive partnership with Xbox and co-development with the talented studio Remedy Entertainment, CrossfireX stumbles on an opportunity that should have been a much richer experience.

Story

CrossfireX is a free-to-play multiplayer game with two single-player campaign expansions sold separately. These campaign missions are developed by Remedy Entertainment and are the highlight of the CrossfireX launch. The premise of the story centers around two of the largest Private Military Companies (PMCs), The Blacklist and Global Risk. They are in conflict with each other mainly due to different ideals, which is a typical trope in these types of games. However, Remedy attempts to spin a twist on the typical war-torn tale by implementing some sci-fi elements in the mix.

The first campaign mission, Operation Catalyst, centers around a small squad from the Global Risk PMC. Their mission is to infiltrate an operation being held by The Blacklist and uncover their true intentions upon their recent insurrection in a fictional country. This “get in and get out” mission quickly turns into a rescue mission all while the game slowly unravels what is the true intentions of The Blacklist PMC’s presence. They want to control the Catalyst, a device that can predict the future with the help of a human brain.

Operation Spectre is a continuation of the first campaign mission, however, it does spin off into a new narrative focusing on the opposite side of the conflict, this time playing as The Blacklist PMC. The campaign mostly centers around the main character, Luis Torres, as he fights for his life running from the Global Risk PMC. Luis has no idea why Global Risk wants him dead but he is later saved by the Blacklist PMC and realizes there are much larger schemes at hand. According to the Catalyst, Luis plays a huge role in the future and helps turn the tide in the conflict between the two PMCs.

Remedy has once again played with the idea of time and implemented it into the plot giving it a refreshing twist to this genre. However, there is not much to be said when it comes to the overall story. It sets up interesting ideas but it falls flat upon delivering something truly unique and ends up feeling fairly generic. Given the short game length of the campaigns, around 3 hours each, the characters don’t feel fully fleshed out and it’s tough to care about what happens to any of these characters. This is a shame because the potential was there and they leave it open for a continuation of the story, it just didn’t deliver.

Gameplay

The campaign missions do play slightly differently than their multiplayer counterpart. Players have access to a bulletime-esque feature that slows down time with a click of the right bumper. The slow-mo feature refills fairly quickly and seems to almost always be readily accessible when you need it. The slo-mo ability is great fun, allowing you to move and react faster than any enemy. This helps set up for very cool moments while in combat. You can enter into a room surrounded by enemies and take all of them out in glorious slow motion, pumping bullet after bullet into each one. Shell casings, debris, and ragdoll bodies flying around in slow motion can create some entertaining moments and create a call back to Max Payne.

Although this feature is the best and most unique mechanic about the campaign missions, it can feel a bit too easy since the slo-mo ability recharges so quickly after use. I played on normal difficulty and rarely died because I spammed the slo-mo ability throughout both campaigns. Surely higher difficulty levels increase the recharge rate of the ability but it is still the sole gameplay mechanic that separates CrossfireX from a generic FPS campaign.

The shooting is decent when it works. There were multiple times throughout each campaign where the aiming felt off. I tried changing the sensitivity in the settings a few times and found an option that worked best, but it still had moments that felt very jittery. If there was a high-action scene, sometimes the performance would take a hit and you can see a noticeable frame rate drop. This is absolutely inexcusable, considering this is not a very demanding game and it is an Xbox exclusive. This game should be running like butter. Clearly, there needs to be some serious optimization done to get this game performing like any other First Person Shooter out now. Again, it is not detrimental nor consistent in the campaign, but it is noticeable.

The campaign missions do allow you to play the perspective of multiple characters throughout the story. The game will jump from one character to another, typically the character that is currently tasked with the action part of the story. I really appreciated this because there was a constant flow of action. There was never a dull moment or fetch mission that slowed the game down. Considering the campaigns were each about three hours long, it’s great to have a constant flow of action with little to no filler in between.

The gunplay is decent but it is very clear that this game is highly influenced by the likes of Call of Duty, so much so that it is hard not to compare the two. The campaign consists of the player entering an area, engaging in large gunfights, and advancing to the next area. There is very little variety here, which is a shame because the story cinematics set up so much potential that the developer decided not to include it as part of the actual gameplay.

The cinematics of the game show soldiers paragliding off a plane, engaging in helicopter dogfights, and even pulling off some acrobatic moves in some of the cinematic gunfights. Every time I watched these cinematics I was expecting to get in on the action myself but was let down every time. A majority of cool moments in this game happen in the cinematics and not in actual gameplay. One of the biggest failures to this is the final scene of Operation Spectre. Its sets itself up for a very intense final boss fight and it all goes down in a cinematic. Very disappointing.

The campaign missions were both decent and the lore that Remedy was able to set up gives the series some potential down the line. But there needs to be more variety than just clearing the area of enemies in slow motion. It’s just not enough to make this campaign stand out.

The multiplayer of CrossfireX is free-to-play and available right now for Xbox One and Xbox Series consoles. The game is an updated version of the original Crossfire release, with some modern mechanics thrown into the mix. It is very apparent that the multiplayer is heavily influenced by Call of Duty and Counter-Strike Search and Destroy modes. One team is tasked to plant a C4 bomb at one of two bomb sites while the other team defends.

There are no respawns in the mode, which is set up nearly identical to those titles mentioned. Even the map that is used for this mode, has a layout that is very similar to a popular Counter-Strike map. This is not necessarily a bad thing, it just makes a comparison that much more relevant. Thus, the game is heavily critiqued because it has a lot to prove to convince players this is worth their time, compared to those other titles.

The multiplayer is split between classic and modern modes. Classic mode rids the aim-down sights mechanic, while the modern mode is full of scopes and the ability to sprint. Within these two main modes, there are multiple game modes to play varying from Search and Destroy, Team Deathmatch, Spectre, Infected, and Point Control.

Some of these modes are locked to a specific game type, whether you choose classic or modern controls. These modes play like you would think, with the exception of Spectre mode. This contains asynchronous gameplay and puts a twist on Search and Destroy. The attacking team is decked in stealth suits that can turn completely invisible when standing still. With a good eye, they can still be seen while moving. The catch is that this team only has knives and smoke grenades at their disposal while the defending team is fully decked out with guns.

This was the mode I grew the most interested in since it played differently than anything else and reminded me slightly of the old Spies versus Mercs multiplayer for Splinter Cell. However, it falls short of being a good time because of some imbalance issues. Knives are not a one-hit kill, if you manage to pull off a knife kill it is typically based on luck. The defending team and attacking teams have the same number of teammates even though clearly one team has the upper hand. Unfortunately, this mode brings about more frustrations than thrills.

The other modes are basic FPS fan-fair and play as you would think. The main issue with the gameplay is the actual gunplay. Since the game has performance issues, no matter how rare, it is unavoidably disruptive. All it takes is for a moment of dropped frames to completely ruin a game of Search and Destroy. These moments happened seldomly, but it is more than enough to hinder the experience tremendously.

Audio and Visual

The soundtrack to the campaign missions was good and gave the feeling of a slightly futuristic setting, all while keeping the tempo high and making the action feel intense. The few guns that are available to use in the campaign sound unique enough to differentiate from one another. Ambient noises are almost non-existent in the environment due to an almost always pumping soundtrack throughout both missions.

The voice acting is good overall but there are questionable moments where you know the line should have been delivered differently and it just fails to land. Luckily this didn’t happen much. The dialogue is a bit cheesy at times, with one-liners thrown in mostly for comic relief. Although these were used sparingly, they made the story feel like a B grade movie rather than a summer blockbuster. For the multiplayer, enemy footsteps and ambient battle sounds are all there. I did not run across an issue locating an enemy sprinting nearby, so thankfully that works the way it should.

The graphics are an upgrade from the original Crossfire release but that isn’t saying much. There is nothing here that will blow you away in multiplayer. I don’t know how this is categorized as an Xbox Series game when the graphics look like from something that launched five years ago on mobile. Thankfully the same can not be said for the campaign missions.

Both Operation Catalyst and Operation Spectre look their best when utilizing the slow-motion feature and in enclosed areas. Remedy did a good job with atmospheric density, particle effects, and explosions. When indoors, grenades blow apart chunks of debris from the walls and surrounding furnishings and sprinkler systems will kick on, creating puddles and mist. These were moments that I wish were present more often.

Unfortunately, it is not consistent throughout, especially the larger outdoor areas that look very bland and in need of some spectacle. Character models in-game look okay, the majority of the game is told through cinematics which is an odd choice for today’s standards. It just makes it blatantly obvious that the CGI looks so good but the actual gameplay is such a downgrade. Again, something I wouldn’t expect to see in a modern shooter for today’s standards.

Replayability

The campaign missions have multiple difficulty settings and various collectibles to find. Some collectibles further expand the lore, via USB drives with audio files. As far as replayability goes there is much to be desired for the campaign portion. Sure, upping the difficulty will give you less health and increase the damage enemies can withstand, but that is about the extent of the replayability of these two missions.

Multiplayer has a battle pass option and allows for players to advance throughout the season based on their performance in-game. If you are into this very familiar system of obtaining skins for characters and weapons, then you will feel right at home with this one.

What It Could Have Done Better

It is hard to believe that this game launched in this state. This is supposed to be an Xbox console exclusive title with a partnership from a seasoned studio, and it doesn’t feel like the quality is there. This feels like a mobile game port. With the performance issues and wonky gunplay, it is tough to say how long CrossfireX will keep players attention.

Not only that but there is literally only one map per multiplayer mode! This is extremely underwhelming even if there are more maps being promised in the future, but the developers can not expect their players to like all of the different game modes they are offering. Thus, if you want to play a different map you have to also play a different game mode.

The campaign missions were good but definitely needed some variety. The best part of the campaign was towards the end of Operation Spectre where you finally are able to do more than just aim and shoot. Without giving too much away, you are able to move and fight at superhuman speeds. This was a very cool moment in the game that did not last long enough. This may be further explored in the next campaign but it left me wishing the six hours I just played had more sprites of unique moments like this one.

Verdict

CrossfireX has an awesome trailer, full of cool-looking cinematics and intriguing potential story elements. That is about as far as it goes. Most of the “wow” moments are experienced in the cinematics rather than actual gameplay and the campaign does not feature much variety other than a couple of small moments. With a multiplayer that looks and feels like it needs optimization in order to be able to fully enjoy the game, it is hard to recommend such a title that is multiplayer-focused. There is some fun to be had but not without the cost of frustration. The highlights of this game are the campaign missions but unfortunately, that also gets caught up in its own crossfire, leaving much to be desired.

CrossfireX free-to-play multiplayer and two DLC campaign missions are available now for Xbox One and Xbox Series via the Microsoft Store. Operation Catalyst is currently available for all Xbox Game Pass subscribers.